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It’s time to get a flu shot

The clinic is Paris will take place Thursday at the First National Bank Community Center from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.

The clinic in Booneville will take place Friday at First Baptist Church from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Paula Beaty, director of the Arkansas Department of Health Units in Paris and Booneville, said plenty of vaccine will be on hand.

“We have plenty and if we need more, we can get it,” she said Monday.

Last year, flu vaccines were administered to 3,200 people in the county in mass vaccination clinics and at schools in the county, Beaty said.

In addition to vaccines, the clinics will also feature a program at noon on the Affordable Care Act, Beaty said.

Also, there will be people on hand who can answer questions about the act.

This year’s vaccine protects against the flu viruses that research indicates will cause the most illness during the upcoming season, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. If you have insurance, the ADH will ask your insurance company to pay for the cost of giving the vaccine. If you do not have insurance or your insurance company does not pay, the vaccine will be made available to you at no charge, according to a news release from the ADH.

“The flu shot is our best protection against the flu,” Beaty said. “Not only do you protect yourself from illness and lost time at work, but it is the best way to protect your own family and your community from the flu this year.”

The 2013 vaccine contains a slightly different strain of flu virus and is made exactly like all previous seasonal influenza vaccines.

The flu vaccine cannot give you the flu.

The mist form of the vaccine is recommended for everyone between the ages of two years through 49 years of age who do not have asthma or other problems that might impair their immune system.

Persons with a non-life threatening egg allergy may be vaccinated but need to see a doctor specializing in allergies.